​Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a cancer of the blood that affects the development of blood cells in your bone marrow. However, unlike acute myeloid leukemia, it is a slowly progressing cancer which may not give signs or symptoms for months or years.

While doctors do not know what starts the process of chronic myelogenous leukemia developing in a person, they do know what happens and how it affects the blood cell development. Two chromosomes that are responsible for controlling the cells in your body switch with each other and lead to the creation of a new chromosome which causes creation of too many white blood cells that do not grow fully and crowd out the healthy blood cells.

Risk factors typically associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia are:

• Being an adult

• Being a male

• Having been previously treated for cancer and consequently exposed to radiation

• Other instances of exposure to radiation